Our Live Oak Wildlife Sanctuary & Tortoise Preserve

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 THE LIVE OAK WILDLIFE SANCTUARY & TORTOISE PRESERVE IS A REALITY

It's official, the 110 acres to be known as the Live Oak Wildlife Sanctuary & Tortoise Preserve in Suwannee County, FL has been acquired. Our donor is in the process of preparing the site for FWC approval as a long term gopher tortoise recipient site and protecting the land with a permanent conservation easement.  The donor bought the land with their own money and will be donating it to us once all the tortoises have been received for protection. This generosity saved TTC from having to spend the $660,000 to acquire the land ourselves. We have a written agreement where they have committed to donating the entire 110 acres to us.  The goal is for it to become home to over 220 gopher tortoises along with the 350 other wildlife species the site will support because of this Keystone Species being there. We are looking to establish the Upper Suwannee Wildlife Education Center on the site in the near future. The land owner (our donor) has even agreed to finance the installation of the few things we will need for USWEC there on the site, a 40x30 pole barn (for outdoor activities) as well as a 40x30 metal building with bathroom (for indoor studies), and a well for 0% interest so we can already have use of the buildings while we continue to raise the money for them. The land is being donated at no cost to TTC, but we will need to pay for the infrastructure needed for USWEC.  This form of land acquisition for the Conservancy is known as Method Three of the three ways we look to acquire land to reach our goal of 10,000+ acres by 2035. 

 

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To be absolutely clear, The Tortoise Conservancy will not be spending any money on this site until it has been donated to us and we own it completely.

The Live Oak Wildlife Sanctuary & Tortoise Preserve, along with the nature trails and the USWEC facilities will be maintained in perpetuity by a trust account set up for that purpose by the Conservancy so the land will remain in this natural state as an educational facility for centuries to come. 

 

WHY AND HOW WE DO WHAT WE DO AT TTC: